White Kyurem-GX – Pokemon Review

Vince

White Kyurem-GX comes with three attacks that doesn’t seem to have any drawbacks, though the attack cost may be questionable on some attacks, but pretty much you get what you paid for. It is a Basic Dragon type with 190 HP, weak to Fairy, and a retreat cost of three. Not being able to exploit weakness is unfortunate, but the raw damage this card displays is enough to land KOs anyway.

Shred is one of those attacks which are recognizable because it does the same thing: ignoring effects placed on the Defending Pokémon. Even better, this attack costs a single fire energy for 40 damage. It can bypass Alolan Ninetales and Hoopa’s protection and do damage as usual. It can even bypass Fairy Charms, which would be pretty important to watch out for, I heard there were four different Fairy Charms taking no damage from certain types. With a couple Altaria with Fight Song and Choice Band, Shred can eventually reach 2HKOs, while still needing one energy!

Then there’s Raging Blade, which does 80 damage for RWC, plus 80 more if this Pokemon has any damage counters on it. In an environment where it’s about OHKOs and 2HKOs, you’ll be lucky to pull off more than one Raging Blade before going down. It’s not easy to rely on your opponent to make them fall short of a KO, even with 190 HP, so maybe you have to place damage counters yourself like Rainbow Energy. Again, with Choice Band, it KOs those 190 HP basics that we’re seeing more frequently.

And finally, there’s Dragon Nova GX, which costs RRWC for 200 damage, and it burns and paralyzes the Defending Pokémon. That would actually be 220 damage due to the Burn mechanics, before your opponent flips a coin to try to get rid of the burn. Paralyzing the Defending Pokémon is another story. It creates a lock that can be opened if the opponent has an answer to it. Most likely it would be Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX or Guzma that can get it out from being Active. When your opponent doesn’t have anything, then it helps buy you a turn, unless your Pokémon suffers from Shrine of Punishment.

Not much for me to critique here, but it’s a good GX Pokemon because it’s attacks are stepping stones, giving you something to start with until you land the big blow. And with Dragon type support such as Altaria, Zinnia, and Expanded options like Reshiram from XY Roaring Skies and Double Dragon Energy, you can eventually create a functional deck with White Kyurem-GX as a feature Pokemon. As this is a card from a set that doesn’t have a event like a pre-release, it would be N/A, but would be a good pull in a +39 deck.

• Standard: 3.5/5
• Expanded: 3.75/5
• Limited: N/A (would be 4.75/5)

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PokeDeck
Central

White Kyurem GX (DRM 48) returns to the Pokemon Trading Card Game in the Dragon Majesty expansion set.  This Basic Dragon Pokemon has three attacks: Shred, for only a single Fire energy, does forty damage and isn’t affected by any effects on your opponent’s Active Pokemon.  Raging Blade, for a Fire, a Water, and a Colorless does 80 base damage but doubles to 160 if it has any damage counters on it.  Its GX attack, Dragon Nova GX, for two Fire, one Water, and a Colorless, does 200 base but leaves the opponent Burned and Paralyzed, which means it’s essentially doing 220 damage and will leave the Paralysis part of the attack irrelevant the majority of the time.

I’ve faced White Kyurem GX only a single time on PTCGO, and I beat it with one of my Turtonator builds, so that should tell you something right there.  Getting damage counters on it can be a little tricky.  Even if you run Damage Mover (SLG 58), that means you’re reducing its HP from 190 down to 160, and you’re presumably going to run four of them, so that will make your deck less consistent.  And there’s that awful multiple energy cost.  And because it’s a Dragon you’ll never get any freebies because nothing is weak to you.

Sorry White Kyurem GX, you’re a pass for me.  You have really great artwork though!

Rating

Standard: 2 out of 5

Conclusion

It doesn’t help that the non GX White Kyurem that’s coming out in Lost Thunder has a very similar attack.  For a single Water, a single Fire, and a Colorless attachment, the non GX version also does 160 damage … and doesn’t need any damage counters on it!  And the non GX version can potentially use Counter Energy.  That’s really a bad break for the GX version of this card.

aroramage

White Kyurem-GX!

…what else I gotta say about it-oh right the rest of the card.

White Kyurem-GX is a Basic Dragon Pokemon-GX, 190 HP, with a Fairy Weakness, no Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 3. Shred is a 1-for-40 all the time, always, no matter what effects your opponent has on their Active Pokemon. Raging Blade then is a 3-for-80 that does 80 more damage if White Kyurem-GX has damage on it. And finally, Dragon Nova GX is a 4-for-200 that Burns and Paralyzes the opposing Pokemon. Talk about overkill.

So no surprise, the GX Attack is really good…but you can only use it once, assuming you don’t use another Pokemon’s GX Attack instead. Raging Blade’s still really good, dishing out 160 damage very frequently, and once it gets boosted, it can deal out 190 damage – enough to KO most Basic Pokemon-GX! And Shred…well, it exists. It can still do some serious damage if it gets boosted, since your opponent can’t stop it with anything.

So what’s holding White Kyurem-GX back? Mostly it’s things like the high Retreat Cost, meaning you’ll only want to use Items to Switch it out or a Pokemon with an Ability to swap places with it, and the odd mixing of Fire and Water Energy, which while the Fire Energy works with new support, Water Energy…doesn’t. Tackling these problems will allow you to utilize White Kyurem-GX rather effectively for Raging Blade, and worst case scenario, you can always nuke your opponent with the Dragon Nova GX.

It’s a force to be reckoned with, so be careful of it in those rogue strategies!

Rating

Standard: 3/5 (though not a lot of synergy between its Types, White Kyurem-GX is a powerhouse)

Expanded: 3/5 (definitely on the stronger end of the spectrum)

Limited: 5/5 (definitely would run here)

Arora Notealus: It’s hard to believe something like this didn’t make the Top X List for Dragon’s Majesty, but there were a lot of cards in those sets that offered a wider spread for utility in several decks, and some of them even could be used in tandem with White Kyurem-GX. Zinnia and Lance <Prism> both directly support Dragons while Blaziken can at least accelerate the Fire Energy out onto it. And that’s just combinations from that set alone! Still, Shred needs a boost, and the GX Attack is overkill, so it’s mainly on Raging Blade to carry White Kyurem-GX around, and that’s relying on your opponent to be merciful and not OHKO it!

Next Time: A haunting creature from the depths…